Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

is divided into five planning regions (): Kurzeme,

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...

, and

Zemgale Semigallia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located to the south of the Daugava and to the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. The territory is split between Latvia and Lithuania, previously inhabited by the Semigallian Baltic trib ...

. They are equivalence to the five statistical regions in Latvia (). The boundaries of these regions correspond to the borders of Latvia's municipalities. However, the planning regions are not considered administrative territorial divisions, as they are not mentioned in the law governing Latvia's administrative territorial structure. Following the 2021 reform, certain areas of the Riga Region were incorporated into the Kurzeme and Vidzeme regions. Notably, the statistical regions of Latvia align with the planning regions.

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History

Regional institutions began formation 1997 according to municipal initiatives on the planning of common development. Following legislation on regional development, the five planning regions were created according to the 5 May 2009 decision no. 391 of the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers: "Decisions on Territories of the Planning Regions. Statistical regions were established according to the main principles set out in the Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (hereinafter NUTS Regulation), further amended. This NUTS Regulation directly concerns all Member States of the European Union and from 1 May 2004 it is also binding upon Latvia. The statistical regions of Latvia are not administrative regions, as they have been formed for statistical purposes. Therefore, they are not mentioned in the law that determines the administrative divisions of Latvia. NUTS Regulation was established to divide ''economic territory of EU'' into similar territorial units for the purpose of collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the EU. Shortly before accession to EU, Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and representatives of the planning regions came to an agreement about the structure of statistical regions (order No.271 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 28 April 2004 "On the Statistical Regions of the Republic of Latvia and Administrative Units Therein", further amended.) Statistical regions of Latvia were approved by Regulation (EC) No 1888/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union. The four statistical regions Kurzeme, Latgale, Vidzeme and Zemgale aligned with the planning regions of Latvia (Regulation No.391 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 5 May 2009 "On the territories of the Planning Regions.", further amended), but Rīga and Pierīga statistical regions comprise the territory of the Rīga planning region. After new planning regions were introduced in 2021, the borders no longer align. ; Planning regions before 2021 The 2021 reformed territories of the planning region are determined by the Cabinet of Ministers' regulations of 22 June 2021 No. 418: "Rules on the Territories of the Planning Region". The structure of Statistical Regions is approved by order No. 911 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 7 December 2021 "On the Statistical Regions of the Republic of Latvia and Administrative Units Therein", further amended.

References

External links

Ministry of Regional Development and Local-governments

Central statistical Bureau of Latvia

Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
{{Europe topic, Regions of Subdivisions of Latvia Latvia geography-related lists

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History

See also

References

External links